Dr Jonathan D. Sarfati B.Sc. (Hons.), Ph.D., F.M.

Creationist Physical Chemist and Spectroscopist (Australia)

Biography

Dr Jonathan Sarfati was born in Ararat, Australia in 1964. He moved to New Zealand
as a child and later studied science at Victoria University of Wellington. He obtained
a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Chemistry with two physics papers substituted (nuclear and condensed
matter physics). His Ph.D. in Chemistry was awarded for a thesis entitled ‘A
Spectroscopic Study of some Chalcogenide Ring and Cage Molecules’. He has
co-authored papers in mainstream scientific journals on high temperature superconductors
and selenium-containing ring and cage-shaped molecules. He also had a co-authored
paper on high-temperature superconductors published in Nature when he was
22.

Dr Sarfati has been a Christian since 1984. He has long been interested in apologetics,
the defense of the faith, and was a co-founder of the Wellington Christian Apologetics
Society (New Zealand). Creation vs evolution is of course a
vital area, because of the ramifications for the doctrines of Creation, the Fall
which brought death into the world, and their links to the doctrines of the Incarnation,
Atonement and Bodily Resurrection of the God-man Jesus Christ.

In August 1996, he returned to the country of his birth to take up a position as
a research scientist and editorial consultant for Creation Ministries International
in Brisbane. In this capacity, he is co-editor of Creation
magazine, and also writes and reviews articles for Journal
of Creation, CMI’s in-depth peer-reviewed publication, as
well as contributing to CMI’s <creation.com> website.

In 1999, his first book was published—Refuting Evolution, which countered a teachers
guidebook by the National Academy of Sciences, Teaching about Evolution and the
Nature of Science, which had been widely circulated and publicized. Refuting
Evolution now has 450,000 copies in print. Later that year he was a
co-author of the updated and expanded Answers Book [note: now entitled
The Creation Answers
Book], answering 20 of the most-asked questions about creation/evolution.
He later wrote Refuting
Evolution 2, countering the PBS Evolution series and an anticreationist
article in Scientific American.

In 2004, he wrote Refuting
Compromise, defending a straightforward biblical creation timeline
and a global flood, and answering biblical and scientific objections, concentrating
on the errant teachings of day-age/local flood advocate Hugh Ross. It has been acclaimed
as ‘the most powerful biblical and scientific defense of a straightforward
view of Genesis creation ever written!’ See the introductory chapter and some reviews.

In 2006, he co-authored 15 Reasons to Take Genesis as History
with Don
Batten, as a concise reference guide for Christians, including pastors
and theologians, why Genesis can be trusted as real history of Creation about 6000
years ago and a global Flood.

That year, Dr Sarfati emigrated to the USA with his wife to work in the CMI–USA office as author, speaker, apologist,
and Head Scientist.

In 2012, he considerably expanded and updated a classic general apologetics book, Christianity for Skeptics
, by Dr Steve Kumar of New Zealand. This presents a positive case for the existence of God, the inspiration of the
Bible, and the divinity and resurrection of Christ, and answers challenges from suffering, atheism, Eastern philosophy,
and Islam. The update now also contains cutting edge material on design in nature, the Christian roots of science, and
answering the ‘new atheists’.

Dr Sarfati is also a keen chess player. He is a former New Zealand Chess Champion,
and represented New Zealand in three Chess Olympiads, and drew with Boris Spassky,
world champion 1969–1972, in a tournament game (those interested in the game
score can see this chess site). In 1988, F.I.D.E., the International Chess
Federation, awarded him the title of F.I.D.E. Master (FM). Dr Sarfati regularly
accepts challenges from multiple players where he plays ‘blindfold’,
i.e. from memory without sight or any physical contact with the board, so moves
are communicated via a recognized chess notation (See an example at the Croydon Chess Club). Twelve is the most played simultaneously
to date—see photo, above right.

Interview on Crossroads TV, Canada, 4 November 2010. “Jim Cantelon speaks
with Dr Jonathan Sarfati about his book The Greatest Hoax On Earth? which
meets Dawkins The Greatest Show on Earth head-on. He answers Dawkins’
challenge. He shows that to believe the Bible’s account of Creation/Fall/Redemption
does not commit intellectual suicide, but it is the intellectually superior position.”